Elated no doubt by this, as well as by their success in negotiation, the French continued that system of public and private robbery for which they seemed to think the convention had granted them entire impunity. General Freire complained to Sir Hew Dalrymple that they were plundering the treasury, the museum, public libraries, arsenals, churches, and the houses and stores of individuals. The British commissioners for carrying the convention into effect, Major-General Beresford and Lord Proby, informed him, that except the military and naval stores there was no kind of public property which the French intended to relinquish; that they meant to carry off the valuables of the Prince, the plunder of the churches, and much of the property of individuals; that they had packed up the royal library, and most of the articles of the museum; that during the negotiation they had taken a sum of about £22,000 from the _Deposito Publico_, which was in fact a robbery of individuals, that money being deposited there till litigations concerning it should be decided; and that even after the terms were signed they had actually demanded the money arising from the revenues of the country. The merchants of Lisbon addressed a memorial to the British Commander, stating that Junot had exacted from them a forced loan of two million _cruzados_, promising that payment should be made out of the enormous war-contribution which he had imposed; they had not been paid, and it was now his intention to depart without paying them; they therefore prayed for redress, and likewise that some steps should be taken for recovering their ships and property which had been unlawfully sequestered in France. ♦QUESTION CONCERNING BAGGAGE.♦